Matt of All Trades blog, like the title suggests, is by a Vermont author and offers offbeat musings on pop culture, media, journalism, humor, weirdness, stupid people, smart people, my life as a journalist, landscaper, photographer, married gay man, dog lover and weather geek and more. It's run by me, Matt Sutkoski, a native Vermonter living in St. Albans, Vt.

Friday, July 31, 2015

Lion Killer Is No He-Man, And Everybody Knows That Now: 8/1/15 Update To This Story

Virile he-man (yeah, right!) Walter Palmer
with a leopard he killed a while back.
He's now being pilloried for killing Cecil the lion.

Reuters is reporting that the reports of Jericho's demise were false and premature. Let's hope that the Reuters reporters are spot on accurate.

Jericho was or is looking after the cubs left by Cecil, so if he had died, the cubs would be in great peril.

Other groups of lions might kill them, or poachers might get them if Jericho had died.

Early reports of Jericho getting killed by poachers set off another firestorm on social media

I'm guessing potential killers of Jericho came partly and unwittingly as a result of all the publicity surrounding Cecil's death. The poachers, who'll apparently do anything for money, figured they could
find Jericho easily enough and there you go.

Again, I hope Reuters is right in that the wildlife group monitoring Jericho says his GPS indicates he's moving around normally and hanging out with a female. Good for him!

I've heard some complaints from my previous posts that shooting lions and tigers and such in Zimbabwe and other such places is good for their economies and to lift locals out of poverty.

I haven't found convincing evidence that the monetary gains are actually real, but here's the much larger point:

Must EVERYTHING in this world be some sort of financial transactions? Can't we just leave some things alone and find other ways to make money other than violence, corruption, and destruction?

This whole thing with the lions is getting sicker and sicker, and making me more and more heartsick

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION:

My guess is Walter Palmer, the creepy Minnesota dentist who went to Zimbabwe to kill Cecil the Lion, has got a microscopic dick, can't get it up and is absolutely horrible in bed.

I don't now this for a fact, of course but I can't come up with any other explanation as to why this loser would kill a lion.

Maybe he's overcompensating?

That's not an original thought, of course. Everybody has been saying this about Palmer all week, and he's basically now Public Enemy #1.

So much for the idea of parents saying their daughter should marry a nice dentist. Obviously, not all of them are so nice.

Oh, I know. He says he didn't realize the lion was Cecil, thE guides he hired lured Cecile out o a national park without his knowledge, yada yada yada.

He's sort of apologized, basically for not knowing it was Cecil he killed, but why would he kill ANY lion?

It's not for food. Target practice? Couldn't he just shoot cans off a log in the woods?

I guess the reason Palmer shot the lion is he because he just likes killing things. He's a serial killer, but he knows that serial killers of people have a high chance of being caught and going to jail. Plus he probably doesn't want to kill people. Some are probably his friends.

So, he did what he thought was socially acceptable. Killing animals for fun. Now he's finding out it's not all that socially respectable.

Palmer's "apology" to his patients over the disruption is rich.

"I want you to to know the situation and my involvement. In addition to spending time with my family one of my passions outside of dentistry is hunting. I've been a life long hunter since I was a child growing up in North Dakota."

That's what you call this? Hunting? Luring a lion out of a protected national park in Zimbabwe with the help of corrupt guides, and then subjecting the lion to a painful death. Shot with a bow and arrow, then left to suffer until being shot later.

Palmer goes on: "I deeply regret that my pursuit of an activity I love and practice responsibly and legally resulted in the taking of this lion."

Notice he says "this lion." In other words, there's the proof right there that he thinks there's nothing wrong with killing something like a lion to, I don't know, prove he's a big virile man who is so tough he can kill a lion for no reason other than to inflate his ego.

And not so fast, buddy with that "responsibly and legally" line. He might have violated the Lacey Act, which makes it a federal crime to trade in wildlife killed in violation of foreign law, the Huffington Post notes.

"'The U.S Fish and Wildlife is investigating the circumstances surrounding the killing of 'Cecil the lion.' That investigation will take us wherever the facts lead,' said Edward Grace, the agency's deputy chief of enforcement, in a statement.'At this point in time, however, multiple efforts to contact Dr. Walter Palmer have been unsuccessful. We ask that Dr. Palmer or his representative contact us immediately," Grace added."

Too wimpy to face the (potential) music from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Dr. Palmer? Gee, you were so "brave" hunting lions, what happened?

True there have been a large number of death threats against Palmer, which is stupid. Anytime someone does something stupid or mean they get death threats from the multitudes of trolls lurking out there. I'm not sure how that helps, but trolls tend to be as unhelpful as Palmer himself.

People are so mad at him that it's forced the shutdown of his dental practice, hence the apology to his patients.

Palmer is obviously horrible to lions and other wildlife. But he's also possibly pretty lousy with people, too.

Raw Story reports that Palmer settled a sexual harassment claim against him in 2009 for $127,500.

A receptionist who worked for Palmer over five and a half years ending in 2005 said she was subject to Palmer's comments about her breasts, buttocks and genitalia.

The report said the receptionist asked that the behavior stop, but it didn't She alleges she was fired for reporting the harassment, Raw Story says.

At least Palmer didn't then go on a safari to shoot and kill the woman's cat if she had one.

If there's any good that has come out of Palmer's atrocious behavior in Zimbabwe and probably elsewhere, at least there's more awareness that this kind of "hunting" goes on and must stop.

The Internet is beginning to move on to other topics, now. Though I'm sure there will be more news when and if Palmer surfaces.

I just hope he doesn't make any money selling the rights to his story. He doesn't deserve any kind of reward.

A lot of people have also noted there's plenty of outrage over Cecil's death, but not about other likely more pressing matters. (Black Lives Matter, anyone?)

However, I think it's possible and a good thing to get riled up over Palmer's atrociousness, while also caring about other issues, ones involving human lives, too.

Maybe there will be a payoff of sorts to the kind of wildlife Palmer thinks are his playthings to kill. There certainly is more interest in the issue, at least for now.

"Only one good thing comes out of this - thousands of people have read the story and have also been shocked. Their eyes opened to the dark side of human nature. Surely they will now be more prepared to fight for the protection of wild animals and the wild places where they live. Therin lies the hope."